TV For Superbowl

[ftpjtm]

I am just arriving in Thailand to stay for a few months. I want to set up a satellite or internet TV service, with US channels. If possible it would be nice if the US networks were included, as I would like to watch the Superbowl on a US network. Any suggestions of what service to get?

 

If it is not possible to get US networks, which of the British/other nationality networks will broadcast the Superbowl?

[champers]

In Pattaya the Superbowl is showing live in some bars e.g. Sportsman on Soi 13. Special promos on f&b. 6.30 a.m. start. No doubt Bangkok will have many more bars showing it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If you want a bar and public showing, there are lots of those in BKK and Pattaya.

 

If you want a home option and have a decent internet connection, a free account with USTVNow will give you Fox on Sunday-Monday, though oftentimes their free connections are overwhelmed during high demand things such as the SB. So the free approach might work, but it also might not, so it's not a sure thing.

 

If you're an American and you want a full online cable package, paid options include a paid (month to month) account with the same USTVNow provider, a service that operates fine with foreign IP addresses since its targeted to expats.

 

If you know how to obtain a U.S. appearing IP address, you can also sign up for broader paid account options with SlingTV and DirecTV Now. (Re the Super Bowl, Fox's live network feed is only available thru SlingTV and DirecTV Now via internet connections showing IP addresses from a variety of major cities (LA, NY, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, etc etc.)

 

Though today, I read that the Super Bowl also is going to be available via Fox's streaming apps without requiring any kind of cable TV account authentication, though the apps also are probably going to require a U.S. IP address.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just a bit of an update on this:  apart from all the non-legal means that might be found to watch the Super Bowl, there are quite a few legal options for watching online -- if you can present a U.S. IP address on the Internet.

 

Specifically, the game and related stuff (halftime show, commercials, etc.) is supposed to be streamed live on the FoxSportsGo.com website (for those with a U.S. IP address).

 

Quote

 

Web browsers

This year, Fox is offering live HD streams of the game at FoxSportsGo.com, even if you don’t have a cable subscription. This means that every major browser — including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, and Safari — should have no problem displaying the stream, assuming your software is up to date. The football gods are benevolent, and, apparently, they want you to glue your eyes to the field on Sunday.

 

 

The game also supposed to be streamed live on the FoxSportsGo app on any device that it supports EXCEPT mobile phones, where only Verizon U.S. customers will have access.

 

Even so, that means those with a U.S. IP address  and the following kinds of devices also can download the FoxSportsGo app and watch the game via the app: Android tablets, Fire TVs, Rokus, certain Android TV devices, Apple TVs, IOS devices other than smartphones, Chromecasts, and XBox One -- provided your particular version of those devices meet the required minimum specs.

 

The following article has a pretty good recap of the details, including the required device specs:

 

http://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/how-to-watch-super-bowl-li/

 

PS - Normally, the FoxSportsGo app is only useful once it's been authenticated via a regular U.S. cable TV service account credentials. But supposedly, for the Super Bowl coverage, Fox is lifting that restriction and folks will be able to use and view the game via the app without having to authenticate via a U.S. cable TV service.

 

I downloaded and installed the FoxSportsGo app today on my FireTV device, and as of today, it doesn't give you access to anything because it's still right now requiring cable authentication. But that should change Sunday (U.S. time) and early Monday morning BKK time.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

And for those few here who might have ATT DirecTV Now or Sling TV accounts, here's their info on what IP locations will enable you to watch the local Fox channel's coverage of the game:

 

 

Quote

 

And if you have a subscription to a streaming TV service, you may also be able to watch the game there, though that will likely depend on what city you live in.

 

Sling TV customers who have Sling’s “Blue” package can watch the game — but only if they live in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit, Gainesville, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa or Washington, D.C.

 

 

AT&T’s DirecTV Now service, meanwhile, will stream the game to people in a slightly smaller set of cities: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit, Gainesville, L.A., Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington, D.C.

 

http://www.recode.net/2017/2/2/14479772/super-bowl-51-2017-nfl-sunday-stream-watch-online

[ftpjtm]

Thanks for the info. I ordered 6 months of True TV to be sure I had something before game day. But it looks like USTVNow would have been a better option. I will sign up for a free account to get some of the US stations not on the True TV plan, and maybe use a paid account with them on my 2018 trip here. 

 

Guess I should have looked into this a bit earlier. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Normally, the USTVNow service works fine with their free account, in terms of providing real-time streams from ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS and CW. The only normal day drawbacks to that is their feeds are all based from Pennsylvania, so you'll get local news from a small town market there. And for their free accounts, their stream resolution is pretty low -- fine for a PC monitor or laptop or smaller TV, but going to get very pixelated on a bigger screen.

 

However, on big crush days like Super Bowl, I think their free service gets overloaded with lots of folks who'd otherwise pretty much never use the service, and USTVNow limits the number of free streams they'll provide to IPs in any particular foreign country. So, if there's a lot of free user demand from Thailand, for example, you might get locked out, or, find your stream getting cut midway thru the game and being unable to re-connect.

 

One way to avoid that is to simply sign up for one month of their paid service, and then you don't have to worry. It should work fine, even on Super Bowl day. And, one other good thing about their service is it's billed month to month, so you can sign up for one month paid, and then not continue it if you decide to and/or revert to their free plan after the Super Bowl month.

 

The paid plan, of course, also provides a bunch of regular U.S. cable TV channels (20+ in all), as opposed to the handful of just over-the-air networks provided by the free plan.

 

 

[GinBoy2]

38 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Normally, the USTVNow service works fine with their free account, in terms of providing real-time streams from ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS and CW. The only normal day drawbacks to that is their feeds are all based from Pennsylvania, so you'll get local news from a small town market there. And for their free accounts, their stream resolution is pretty low -- fine for a PC monitor or laptop or smaller TV, but going to get very pixelated on a bigger screen.

 

However, on big crush days like Super Bowl, I think their free service gets overloaded with lots of folks who'd otherwise pretty much never use the service, and USTVNow limits the number of free streams they'll provide to IPs in any particular foreign country. So, if there's a lot of free user demand from Thailand, for example, you might get locked out, or, find your stream getting cut midway thru the game and being unable to re-connect.

 

One way to avoid that is to simply sign up for one month of their paid service, and then you don't have to worry. It should work fine, even on Super Bowl day. And, one other good thing about their service is it's billed month to month, so you can sign up for one month paid, and then not continue it if you decide to and/or revert to their free plan after the Super Bowl month.

 

The paid plan, of course, also provides a bunch of regular U.S. cable TV channels (20+ in all), as opposed to the handful of just over-the-air networks provided by the free plan.

 

 

I'm a periodic fan of USTVNow, I tend to sign up at various times of the year for sports, which is the good thing, you can start and stop at will

 

The 'free' service works OK, but it's at really low resolution, which might be OK if you're watching on a laptop, but try it via a Roku on a real TV and it's pretty abysmal. The paid HD stream is great.

The issue of the live streams originating in Harrisburg never really worries me, since most of the time I don't really care about watching local morning news from any market in what is our evening.

 

FoxSportsGo app works, didn't know they were offering a free SB stream, but it's a channel pretty common with cable packages, so I sign in with my daughters xfinity log in, which also then streams great through their Roku app

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Roku has sent out several emails in the past few days advertising that people can watch the Super Bowl online via the FoxSportsGo app on their Roku devices WITHOUT having to have a cable TV account authentication.

 

Of course, that's not only true for Roku but all the various other set-top platforms that I mentioned above that also support the FoxSportsGo app.

 

Just two caveats:

1. you'll probably need a U.S. IP address for anything of this stuff to work -- except for USTVNow, which works fine with non-U.S. IPs.

 

2. After the Super Bowl broadcast is done, the FoxSportsGo app will revert to being ONLY usable if you authenticate with a mainstream U.S. cable TV account credentials. Fox is really only unrestricting the app just for the one day of Super Bowl coverage.

 

BTW, I get my local Fox TV channels from the U.S. live on my DirecTV Now and Sling TV subscriptions, so I should be able to watch the SB on either of those sources just fine.

 

But, when I tried to authenticate the FoxSportsGo app on my Fire TV using either my DirecTV Now or Sling TV credentials, it didn't seem to work on either. That won't matter on Super Bowl day, but it would matter thereafter if I wanted to continue using the app, which I probably won't.

 

 

But as I noted above, the one platform the FoxSportsGo app will NOT work on for Super Bowl purposes are smartphones, since Verizon in the U.S. has the exclusive lock on live streaming NFL games for its own smartphone customers.

Edited February 4, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Langsuan Man]

 

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But, when I tried to authenticate the FoxSportsGo app on my Fire TV using either my DirecTV Now or Sling TV credentials, it didn't seem to work on either.

If downloading the Fox Sports Go app you must download it using an VPN since once it is downloaded to your tablet or laptop the first things asked will be giving it permission to determine your location.  Without a VPN showing that you are in the US, the app will not load and will delete itself (on Android, don't know about iOS)

 

I want to use it and cast to my Big Screen Panasonic "smart" TV using my Chromecast device but for some unknown reason can't get the Chromecast to work on the 50in Panasonic near my router  but it works perfectly upstairs on the 40in SONY (despite the weak WiFi signal up there) 

 

But this is just going to be a backup since my local provider (Bang Sare Cable) has had the Superbowl live on at least one station for the last two year's but that is never guaranteed 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Langsuan Man said:

 

If downloading the Fox Sports Go app you must download it using an VPN since once it is downloaded to your tablet or laptop the first things asked will be giving it permission to determine your location.  Without a VPN showing that you are in the US, the app will not load and will delete itself (on Android, don't know about iOS)

 

LSM, that wasn't the issue, as I did download the app via a U.S. VPN connection (router-based) that feeds my Fire TV device. And apparently, the process is different for set top devices like a Fire TV than it is for a tablet.

 

The issue was, at least for Fire TV devices, once the app is successfully installed, as it was on my Fire TV, once you first run it, you're asked to authenticate the app using a code of letters that pops up on your TV/app screen and enter that code into a Fox website. The website asks for the credentials of your cable TV account.

 

The problem was, neither DirecTV Now or Sling TV, which are my two U.S. "cable" services, are listed on the eligible list of cable services that the FoxSportsGo app will accept to authenticate. So, no can do. Even though both of those services provide me with viewing access to a local Fox broadcast channel, where I'll also be able to view the SB.

 

Using the app  shouldn't be a problem on Super Bowl day, as Fox has promised to waive the authentication requirement just for Super Bowl coverage. But after the Super Bowl in finished, the app will once again be useless to me, because it will revert to requiring authentication and I won't be able to authenticate it.

 

But as I mentioned in my original posts, to use the FoxSportsGo app on SuperBowl day even in non-authenticated mode, people probably will need to have/be using a U.S. IP address in order to view the stream. I doubt Fox is opening up its SB stream to worldwide viewing via the app.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[longball53098]

I have been a subscriber to the NFL Game Pass for international viewers for 3 years now. All thats required is a decent internet connection and 199 USD. You get the entire season from start to finish and any and all games as often as you want and back to previous seasons if you want. Always plays well for me be it on my home PC, my laptop or on my Android device

And just watched the incredible comeback by Brady and company. Great game no matter if you like the Pats or not

[Langsuan Man]

Strange viewing options for the Superbowl, which was, IMHO,  probably the best Superbowl in recent memory 

 

Was able to get Fox Sports GO to work using a free VPN (Tunnel Bear) and once the stream started was able to turn off the VPN and able to continue to view  for the whole game on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2.  Also was able to do the same thing using a Nexus 7

 

But FOX must have had some special type of encryption since I could not Chromecast  to the one TV that works with the device

 

My local cable provider must have been able to access an illegal feed from True 4u since I was able to get the game on my big screen but a lousy picture full of static and the Thai play-by-play made it pretty much unwatchable 

[ubonjoe]

I watched it on True Visions channel 666 this morning.

[GinBoy2]

Not a huge football fan, more a baseball and basketball kinda guy, but this morning's game was one of the best Super Bowls I've seen.

 

I was rooting for the Falcons, if only to piss off my Bostonian friend, and I was convinced they had nailed it by the end of the 3rd quarter. Quite the comeback from the Pats. Lady Gaga did a bang up job for the halftime show too.

 

On the technical side the Fox SportsGo app streamed flawlessly on my Roku, the NFL and the network providers have clearly beefed up the bandwidth available to stop the buffering and crashes of earlier years

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I watched it via my Sling TV service, which includes my local market Fox affiliate. Streaming was flawless all the way thru.

 

I wasn't really rooting for either team especially, but to see the Falcons blow the largest lead in Super Bowl history was pretty astonishing. Not only did their defense fall apart at the end of their game, but their offense went into deep freeze as well. Maybe that's why they call him "Matty Ice."  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Noticed this in the news today re the Fox Sports Go app supposedly dropping its stream of the SB game at some point in the 4th quarter. As I mentioned above, I watched the game thru a different method, so can't speak directly to the issue.

 

http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/05/super-bowl-fox-sports-streaming-down/

Quote

 

Viewers using Fox Sports’ online streaming service to watch Super Bowl 51 missed part of the big game on Sunday when the service went down.

 

Fox Sports Go, a free streaming service available online or through an app, is airing the Super Bowl live, but football fans posted their dismay on Twitter after the stream dropped during the tumultuous fourth quarter of the game.

 

“We’re aware of the streaming issue, and it’s been resolved. Please close and reopen the stream to get back to the game,” Fox Sports Go Help posted on its official Twitter account. But many users replied to the tweet saying they were still unable to access the live stream.

 

 

[Pib]

The SuperBowl was on one of the TrueVisions channels live...I watched it on TrueVisions....I forget the channel number now but it was in that bunch of channels that carry sports.  The channel did not broadcast any commercials; just the game and halftime show....I turned it off after the game ended so don't know if they broadcast the trophy award ceremony at the end of the game but I expect they did.

[GinBoy2]

10 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Noticed this in the news today re the Fox Sports Go app supposedly dropping its stream of the SB game at some point in the 4th quarter. As I mentioned above, I watched the game thru a different method, so can't speak directly to the issue.

 

http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/05/super-bowl-fox-sports-streaming-down/

 

I saw this too, I watched it all the way through on Fox SportsGo, and it didn't drop once, and in the 4th quarter I was actually giving it my full attention! I wonder if it dropped only on certain platforms?